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cbenci
Known Participant
April 28, 2015
Answered

Feature Request - Fonts to Curves

  • April 28, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 20257 views

Apart from the UI issues of Acrobat DC, one feature I would like to see added is a button that converts fonts to curves.

The watermark / flattener preview method is unacceptable and clunky in 2015.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    There is a single fixup in Acrobat DC Preflight under the Document category entitled “Convert fonts to outlines” that will do exactly what you want. No reason to request a feature that is already there!  

    That having been said, there are very few good reasons to convert text to outlines other than for very specialized artistic effects and you wouldn't be doing those in Acrobat anyway.

    We are aware of various “print service providers” who are under the distinct wrong impression that converting text to outlines is somehow more reliable that leaving text as text realized by fonts. Other than some dicey, prehistoric RIPs based on non-Adobe technology going back over fifteen years or more, we are not aware of any problem during the RIP process due to fonts. If the font is embedded in the PDF and view correctly in Adobe Acrobat, it should RIP! If you have a “bad font,” you won't be able to view the PDF file in Acrobat nor will converting text to outlines even work.

    There are also many downsides to this Luddite practice. You lose the hinting of the font and often end up with overly bold printed output, especially with fine detailed serif fonts at text sizes. The PDF files become very bloated. RIP and even display performance suffers terribly.

    Adobe specifically advises end users to avoid print service providers who demand/require PDF files with so-called “outlined text!”

                - Dov

    1 reply

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
    Legend
    April 28, 2015

    There is a single fixup in Acrobat DC Preflight under the Document category entitled “Convert fonts to outlines” that will do exactly what you want. No reason to request a feature that is already there!  

    That having been said, there are very few good reasons to convert text to outlines other than for very specialized artistic effects and you wouldn't be doing those in Acrobat anyway.

    We are aware of various “print service providers” who are under the distinct wrong impression that converting text to outlines is somehow more reliable that leaving text as text realized by fonts. Other than some dicey, prehistoric RIPs based on non-Adobe technology going back over fifteen years or more, we are not aware of any problem during the RIP process due to fonts. If the font is embedded in the PDF and view correctly in Adobe Acrobat, it should RIP! If you have a “bad font,” you won't be able to view the PDF file in Acrobat nor will converting text to outlines even work.

    There are also many downsides to this Luddite practice. You lose the hinting of the font and often end up with overly bold printed output, especially with fine detailed serif fonts at text sizes. The PDF files become very bloated. RIP and even display performance suffers terribly.

    Adobe specifically advises end users to avoid print service providers who demand/require PDF files with so-called “outlined text!”

                - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
      Venetia1
      Venetia1
      Participating Frequently
      February 6, 2017

      I need to convert some text, but not all, to outlines. Is there a way to do that? I work in the sign industry and need to send text to a cad system, so it has to be vectors and PDFs are how we get some files. The designer should have converted before sending to me but did not. (People, remember that not all of us are using these as a typical document before you start on a rant about fonts)

      Venetia1
      Venetia1
      Participating Frequently
      February 7, 2017

      A font that relies on a set of code to be represented correctly cannot be a CAD vector format, as in an AutoCAD file. Something that can be sent to a CNC machine, etc. So whatever you call it in the printing domain, we call it a vector file, a line unto itself needing no other code. If the set of letters I need to send to the machine (CAD) is still reliant on the "font" to look correct, then it will not work. That is all I am asking for. A way to take the "word" or set of letters, that is now relying on a font to tell it how to look, and make it an object in the vector sense, no longer a text image. Does that make any sense? This has nothing to do with document manipulation. I am trying to get Acrobat to do something I can do in Illustrator. The problem is the designer has sent me a PDF of the sign with letters that have not been converted to outlines in AI. Outlines in AI are vector images. It turns a set of text into an object.


      Just remember that every app has its own set of jargon; in CorelDRAW they are called curves, not outlines. In Corel, an outline is a graphic reference to an actual outline of an object that will print or can be viewed.

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